that awkward moment when
by paper piper
Summary: "very funny, dark. now get your hand off my thigh." -dark/riku


A/N: something a little random and sweet. thought i'd update on this couple :)

A/N: i don't own Dark, Riku, or DN Angel. BUT IF I DID, I WOULDA FIXED THE PAIRINGS BIG TIME, YO.

A/N: Peter Pan reference. i don't own that either. BUT IF I DID- i wouldn't change a thing ;)

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**that awkward moment when**

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Riku did not like boys who came onto her. She didn't like the way their mouths twisted into a little smirk as they leaned in, eyes dropping to her lips (or her boobs, or her—), hands moving indiscreetly for her…

She served them well with a smack. _Who decided that you own me anyway?_

She liked the ones who smiled at her. Who were a little bit shy, who blushed when she laughed at him, _guys with red hair and red eyes and a little-boy romance._

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So she didn't like it very much that day.

She thought she was going to the beach with Risa and Daisuke, and how excited she was! Wearing a new bathing suit, hoping upon hope that even though she was a tomboy, even though she knew Risa was Daisuke's twirling little princess, that he might stammer and say, "You look nice, Riku!" Oh, and she would have stammered a little, looked away, and smiled inside.

But, ugh, Risa was excited at the prospect of seeing Dark.

"Do you think Dark will like my new suit?" she asked back at the house, looking at herself in the mirror.

Risa was the picture of sexuality: long brown hair falling over sun-kissed shoulders; big brown eyes (long-lashed of course); a slender body in a pretty, frilly new polka-dot bikini. Topped with a fashionable (new) wide-brimmed sunhat.

Riku looked up, brow cocked. "Of course he will."

Risa raced to her sister, took her hands and smiled. "Now, I need you to distract Daisuke for me today so I can go look for Dark. I'm sure he'll be there!"

_And why do you think that?_ But Riku bit her tongue and smiled.

And they rode together to the beach, jittery and chatty, Riku puzzling over how she would "distract Daisuke."

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She found herself _here_.

Seated, in her new sleek black _strapless_ one-piece, on the beach, alone with her popsicle.

"Going to hunt for Dark!" Risa had called, as soon as she stepped onto the sand. She sped past a stammering Daisuke, in his tee-shirt and swim trunks; he did not miss the way Risa's hair blew in the wind, or the pretty sway of her hips as she wandered away.

_Don't stare, you idiot_, she grumbled to herself.

She managed to hold Daisuke's attention for a little while, walking along the beach and talking with him, as well as surfing a little, watching and laughing as her clumsy little crush fell off his board and into the roaring waves.

But when Risa came back, huffing and puffing in frustration ("I can't find Dark—I wanted to see Mr. Dark!"), Daisuke winced and smiled and blushed, came to console and sit with her in the sand. Riku surfed a little while longer, but she kept staring back at the beach, noticing the way Daisuke's ears were permanently red, and the way his eyes kept drifting over Risa's very supple body.

She was about to go over and make a fool of herself by yelling at the both of them ("what are you doing, you idiots! Get a room, you're embarrassing"), but when she finally got back to land, Risa was alone.

"Where's Daisuke?"

Risa shrugged. "I dunno; we were just talking about Dark, but he got all red and suddenly said he had to go." She stood, brushed the sand off her body, yawned. "Doesn't matter anyway, I'm going to go take a nap under the umbrella." She tossed her twin a smile and headed for their blanket.

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So here she is, alone. Lazily licking her popsicle, legs crossed, bored. And disappointed.

"Heyyy, girllll."

_Oh. My. God. _Riku slid two brown eyes upward and met a pair of cheeky amethyst ones. He was leaning against the picnic table, clad in black swim shorts and no tee-shirt, hair long and wavy in the wind.

"What are you doing here?" she growled.

Dark only winked. "Came here to see some pretty young thing like yourself."

"Very funny, Dark. Now take your hand off my thigh."

"Don't wanna."

She got up, turned away (ignored the way his eyes roved over her shoulders, down her back and to her bum and legs), grabbed her surfboard. "Bye, Dark."

"Aw, don't be that way." He was walking after her now; Riku groaned loud enough for him to hear.

"Risa's over there if you wanna see her. I came with Daisuke to the beach, not you."

Dark chuckled, deep and easy. "I think Daisuke's a little tied up right now."

She whipped around on him. "What'd you do with Daisuke?"

His face turned up a broad grin—she ignored the ripples of muscle down his (naked) stomach. "Guy problems. You wouldn't get it."

Riku frowned. She started for the water again. "You disgust me."

"How could I disgust you? You don't even know me, Riku." He was still following her—_oh my god, I'm going to slap him._

She put her surfboard in the water, started paddling out into the waves. _What a weirdo_. She felt better suddenly to be in the sun, sweating and swimming, moving, acting—doing something. Riku was action.

She turned, glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Dark talking to Risa on the beach—but he was right behind her, on his own surfboard (where did that come from? She gasped), and at her turn, he grinned and waved.

"Don't worry, I'm right behind ya!" he laughed—and it was so strange, infinitely strange, because suddenly he was handsome, suddenly he was less of the pervert she knew him to be and more of a little boy—more like, like Daisuke. Riku flushed and turned away, more confused than she would admit.

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The waves were dead for a moment: she sat and waited for him to swim to her.

"Back to what we were saying," he said as he pulled alongside her, "I'm not so bad. You just don't know, Riku." He sat on his surfboard, one leg on either side of the thing, and smiled at her softly—the most attention she'd gotten all day.

She was not satisfied. "Easy for you to say. But you did assault me at my own house and steal my very first kiss." She crossed her arms over her chest for effect, but Dark's mouth tipped sideways.

"That was your first kiss?"

"Yes!" she hollered at him, angry with herself for revealing that information. "So what?"

He shook his head. "That's just—really cute." He winked again. "I'm glad I'm the one who got to steal it." And he chuckled a little bit, but she couldn't tell if it was precisely at her.

"So you are a pervert," she accused. "That's all I need to know."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes, "you can think that, but it might help you to remember that I'm just a guy. A guy who thinks you're cute. And that you shouldn't take yourself too seriously."

"You don't take anything seriously, I think." She paused. "Well, except stealing things." And she stuck her tongue out. Dark laughed at that, and Riku felt her breath hitch a little. She said a little uncomfortably, "So, why aren't you with Risa or something? I don't want you here with me."

"Maybe I'm not here with you, maybe I'm here to surf."

"Good!" she turned her whole body away from him, waiting for the waves to ripen.

A few seconds later, he whispered: "Are we not allowed to talk?"

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Okay."

He sat on the board. She continued to look away.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"_What, Dark?"_

"Are you really mad at me about that kiss?"

"Yes."

"Were you saving it for something—or someone?"

Riku coughed a little, _how could he know?_

"You were!" And Dark laughed fully now, laughed he had a second ago, when he became handsome and young and childish, not merely mischievous. "I'm sorry if that made you mad. But you'll have your chance again. Kisses are many things to many people. In some countries I've been to, kisses are just greetings. To some people, kisses are the little things you sew with." He smiled.

She blinked. "You've read _Peter Pan_?"

"Who hasn't? It's classic. Who can resist the story of an arrogant little boy who can fly and fight pirates all day?" Dark laughed. "And kiss little chicks like Wendy."

_That's what you are. Peter Pan. A little mischief-seeker, stealing thimbles from little girls._

Her eyes were down when she spoke. "I-I mean, I wasn't exactly saving it…I'm not dating anyone, and no one likes me—it's just that I had wanted it to be special, and I-I d-don't know—"

"Aw, your ears are red," he teased. He was suddenly very close to her now, and Riku could feel the panic (excitement?) rising in the back of her throat. "And your cheeks, and your neck." And Dark, Dark was smiling, not smirking, not reaching for her the way nasty boys do, but he was sitting very close, eyes on her, his hands on his knees—why was she so nervous? Why was she stammering?

"U-uh, you should get a-away from me—"

The waves rose, took them both by surprise.

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Riku stood quickly, stumbled, fell.

She was relieved, when the cool water wrapped itself around her; relieved though she should have been afraid, because his eyes weren't on her, and his voice wasn't in her ears, _and she wasn't attracted to him, not at all, dammit!_

She fell, fell farther, and the water was heavy on her chest, heavy on her eyes, which fell closed.

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_Okay, maybe I am attracted to him. But it's okay. I'm dying now._

She smiled to herself.

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"Riku! Riku, wake up."

_Why is his voice still in my ears?_ She frowned.

"Riku!" he called. And he sounded desperate.

_What, are you worried?_

"Please," he was begging.

_Oh, I guess you are._

And she smiled to herself.

But when she opened her bloodshot eyes, Dark was not there. _But it was him, wasn't it?_

_His_ hands, she remembered coming around her body, lifting, pulling her toward a pool of light above them—

_His_ voice, murmuring between gasps and heaves, "It'll be okay, you'll be okay, Riku"—

_His_ eyes, wide and worried, staring down at her, _his_ body hovering over hers, _his_ lips—_his lips_ moving over hers, breathing life back into her body—_"You'll be okay, I promise you'll be okay"_—

Did she imagine the relief on his face when she first opened her eyes? The way his shoulders relaxed instantly, the way his eyes were suddenly young again? Oh, he was, he was handsome, certainly, and she promised she'd tell him as soon as she could get herself to speak...

_"Peter Pan never dealt with this," _he mumbled. She could have smiled.

"Riku?" Daisuke was frowning. "Are you alright? Do you need something?" Daisuke was sitting next to her, leaning slightly over her body sprawled on the beach. It was Daisuke? Only Daisuke? Somehow, it was disappointing.

"Where's—?" She sat up, and her head was pounding. "Dark? Wasn't he here?" she asked.

Daisuke's face grew tight, and she did not guess why. "I don't know Dark," he murmured.

_I guess I don't either._

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But, oh, how delicious it felt to find on her balcony that night, a thimble. She could practically feel his grin, wherever he was.

She left her window open, just in case a naughty little boy came creeping to her window.

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fin.

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A/N: eh? eh? please don't favorite without leaving a review. **reviews are my oxygen.**


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